Jul
27

Ring Through

I sit at my computer.
Familiar surroundings newly revisited.
I remember the bells I hear
ringing from the neighborhood church.
Chiming out
a familiar chant
my soul recalls effortlessly.
They herald a message
to any near enough to hear it,
though I take it personally.

I’m home. From wherever I’ve been,
for however long I remain,

I am welcome.

© 2011 Shari Lynne Smothers

 

 

The bells I can hear, ring at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, in Treme, a largely African-American populated neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Jul
07

Early

My eyes are closed
my mind alert
listening
for signs the sun
may have arrived
before me today.

Dammit.

Peeping out
from behind my lids
I find I won
again,
even though
I laid down my head
only just three hours ago.

© 2011 Shari Lynne Smothers

Jun
27

Restless

Lately, every time I
pick up a pen
songs come to mind.
First lines that invite
joy sorrow love hope from
times I only vaguely
recall, memories long faded
leaving only the
resonating emotions.

Feelings betray me
pushing up random smiles
shoving out unexpected tears
pulling up old songs;
playing the familiar tunes in my head
to keep themselves awake.

I wish they were dormant
not mingling with my present
to at least allow me to
pretend to be peaceful.

© 2011 Shari Lynne Smothers

Process notes: First, old songs brought up old feelings and faded memories. Then I wondered about what it was exactly that brought me to the old music.

May
27

Insomniac Nights

Can’t account for when they
assail me. Although,
I’ve noticed a pattern of
when I declare sleep will rule
it mockingly evades me
as if to say
whatever damned mocking thing
it says.

My worst nights are those
when I’m forced to lay there
mapping ceiling bumps
in the barely moonlit room,
listening for
shifting carpet fibers,
wondering if there are any
nocturnal bugs trekking through;
hearing the birds
scratching the awning
on their way
to some secret rendezvous.

All because I have
an important thing to do shortly.

My best nights are those
where I have no appointment
to face in a few hours.
I can get up and indulge
my lack of sleep with
YouTube, writing, reading,
Lego’s
not necessarily all or in that order.
Just whatever entertains me, things
that let me say, to sleep,
whatever damned snubbing thing
I can find to say.

© 2011 Shari Lynne Smothers

May
20

Informed

All the world is
far removed from me
much as I
want to touch it.
Vicariously only
can I engage just now,
from my hovel
through my window
into cyberspace.
I see what people
want to show
of the lives they lead.
Who’s killing, loving,
having a
Chernobyl meltdown;
mentally challenged brothers
get the book
thrown at them
while great villains,
not so much.
Political strife,
economic difficulty
moral bankruptcy
foreign governments
posture to save face.

Short of everything
and still properly sated,
I return
to myself disconnected
as the muck of the world
sloughs off me
settles to the floor
where I can sift through
to find
my poetical fodder.

© 2011 Shari Lynne Smothers

Mar
03

Normal Time

Winter exhaled fully from deep
in his belly. Shared almost the full breadth
of havoc he knew with
freezing temperatures, blinding snow
and ice slicked roads—
then witness
all the people’s and earth’s actions in response.

I move through my days in slow motion
defrosting with cold’s departure.
Sloughing off my last stuffy nose morning
as Winter makes his quick exit,
for Spring to present herself through
more temperate, accommodating weather.

Out from under my blankets
where Winter had forced me,
awake without his icy tendrils
inside my head, slowing my thoughts,
pulling me out of normal time
as audience to all his regalements,
I thaw. I begin to move easier
think faster, behave more congruously
with warmer days that now greet me.

Through Spring, Summer and Fall,
I will continue more fluidly,
flashing only the occasional cold memory of Winter
until his eminent welcome return in December.

© 2011 Shari Lynne Smothers

This post is part of my #SHINEonline challenge commitment for 2 posts weekly; 1 of 2 for the 8th week.

Check out the #SHINEonline paper.li linked at the top of my far right sidebar.

I took some time off to get into some other things. It took getting hung up on a title, (something that never stops me), to pull me away to other projects. It was fun times away. Though now I’m back with a vengeance. I have some posts to make up for—4 for 2 weeks missed. I look forward to challenging myself.

It will also be a bit of a practice in case I decide to participate in a daily poem project next month.

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